Revitalizing the World Trading System

Ambassador Alan Wm. Wolff is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and was co-Acting Director General (2020–21) and Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (2017–21). He is a leader in the field of international trade, with over five decades of experience as a lawyer and trade negotiator. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the Friends of Multilateralism Group (FMG).

• Introduction: saving the world trading system; Part I. Why Trade?: 1. The origins of trade; Part II. The Multilateral Trading System: 2. The founding of the multilateral trading system; 3. Core elements of the world trading system; 4. Twenty values of the multilateral trading system; 5. A brief history of the WTO as told to us by its ministerial conferences; Part III. The Regular Operations of the WTO: 6. A week at the WTO; Part IV. Major Substantive Topics: 7. Dispute settlement at the WTO; 8. Agriculture; 9. Services; 10. E-Commerce; 11. Development at the WTO; Part V. World Trade Governance and Systemic Reform: 12. The problem of governance of the multilateral trading system; 13. The need for WTO reform; 14. WTO 2025: WTO Reform; Part VI. Conclusion: 15. Conclusion – The future of the WTO; Afterword. The art and science of negotiation; Bibliography.

'This book provides a wealth of new ideas. For some of the problems of the WTO, Wolff offers solutions that have never been tried before or not even thought of. His book provides guidance for a strategy that allows for gains and sacrifices to overcome opposition. He shows new ways to overcome hitherto unsurmountable obstacles.' Karl Brauner, Former Deputy Director-General of the WTO, and Former Director General for Trade in the Economics Ministry of Germany